In the art of forming carbonaceous bodies, it is frequently desirable to use carbonaceous materials which may be waste products or byproducts of other processes as a source of graphitic carbon although the carbonaceous material may be in an amorphous or nongraphitic state. For example, petroleum coke, carbon black and even electro graphite or natural graphite are desirable sources of graphitic material for the production of shaped graphite or graphite-like bodies.
Graphite bodies have been employed heretofore for many purposes and in various industries. For example, high-temperature gas-cooled nuclear reactors may make use of graphitic bodies for the structure of the nuclear-reactor core, as sheaths for nuclear-fuel elements, as enclosures for fertile elements in breeder reactions, and as components of nuclear fuel or breeder particles. In the metallurgical industry and in the glass-making field, graphite molds or molds lined with graphite or graphite-like materials are used for casting. In general, graphitic bodies have been employed whenever high-temperature processes may be involved because they have a refractory and generally inert character. In nuclear reactors especially, they have proved to be desirable because of the neutron cross-section of graphitic materials and their reduced tendency to produce reaction products which interfere with the operation of a nuclear reactor.
Common methods of producing graphite-like bodies involve the extrusion of ram-pressing of synthetic graphite or graphite-like products to shape them into the desired configuration. These systems frequently require after-treatment of the graphite-like bodies and make use of relatively expensive equipment because it has been difficult heretofore to impart a well-defined shape to the graphitic materials and at the same time provide high compressive strength and other desirable mechanical properties.